Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner vetoes city charter amendment

Dennis Nett/The Post-StandardSyracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner, shown in a Nov. 7, file photo, vetoed today a city charter amendment that Common Council passed last month. The amendment would have given councilors more power over decisions by the city planning commission on building projects.

Syracuse, N.Y. -- Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner delivered an end-of-the-year surprise Tuesday in her tug of war with the Common Council over the city’s planning process.

But by waiting to issue her veto until after the council’s last regular meeting of the year on Dec. 19, Miner may have made it legally impossible for the board to override it before Jan. 1.

By that time, four new city councilors — all of whom directly or indirectly received money this year from Miner’s political action committee – will have taken office. Miner said she does not know how the new council would vote.

On Nov. 28, the council adopted a change in the city charter that gives the council more power to step in and prevent developments from being killed when they don’t pass muster with the five-person planning commission. Commissioners are appointed by the mayor.

The charter amendment adopted by the council would make sure the planning commission couldn’t quietly derail a project without the council and the public getting a chance to weigh in, councilor Pat Hogan said then.

In her veto message, Miner said the amendment politicizes the planning process. In addition, she said, the council’s vote required a public referendum first because it transfers power from the executive branch to the legislative. Councilors disagree, saying the new law merely refines the council’s existing role.

Councilor Ryan McMahon said the council has an attorney working to determine if there’s still a way for council to override the veto before Sunday.

McMahon, who voted for the local law and leaves the council Saturday, said the council needs to know what happens if it overrides the veto but a court later overturns that vote. “Can you override it again? We don’t have the answers yet,” he said.

Miner has also proposed a deal if the council decides not to override the veto. She said she will work with the planning commission to rewrite its own rules to give the council power to require the commission to hold public hearings on planning proposals. She will also take the recommendation of the council when she appoints a new member to the commission. A seat is due to open in May.

“I think it is an eminently fair and reasonable compromise that solves the issues (councilors) have raised,” Miner said. “It’s up to them to decide whether we want to go down the road where we can govern the city.”

Some councilors say the compromise doesn’t give them the control they’re seeking and it comes too late. “It looks like a stalling tactic at the end of the game,” McMahon said. “Why now? Why not six or eight weeks ago?”